Hay-carrier track



(No Model.)

W LOUDEN HAY GARRIERTRAGK.

No. 555,607 Patented Mar. 3, 1896.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM LOUDEN, OF FAIRFIELD, IOWA.

HAY-CARRIER TRACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,607, dated March 3, 1896.

Application filed December 16, 1895. Serial No. 572,295. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM LOUDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairfield, in the county of Jefferson and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hay-Carrier Tracks, of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to track-rails having horizontal wheel-supporting flanges and a vertical web or webs for the connection of the necessary track attachments, and also to an improved hanger for suspending the trackrail.

It consists, first, in an improved form of the vertical web or webs of the rail, and, second, in an improved form of a two-part hanger adapted to embrace the web and suspend the track-rail, one of the members of thehanger having a hook on its upper end and the upper end of the other member extending up into the throat of the hook between its point and its body, so as to close the hook and prevent it from coming 01f the support to which it may be hooked.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective showing a track-rail having an upper and a lower web with a hanger and stopblock secured to said webs. Fig. 2 is a top or plan View of the rail alone, showing an upper web and horizontal flanges. Fig. 3 is a cross section of the rail in Fig. 1, showing the attachment of the hanger thereto. Fig. 4 is a 1n odified form of hanger.

The track-rail shown in Figs. 1 and 3 consists of an upper web, A, a lower web, B, and intermediate horizontal flanges O O for the wheels of a hay-carrier to run upon. The upper and lower webs A and B are made of substantially a uniform thickness throughout and then, to adapt them for the connection of the stop-block and hanger, their outer edges are crimped, first to one side and then to the other, so as to form alternate projections D and recesses E.

A track-hanger F, comprising two members I and J, is used to embrace the web A and its jaws L and K are fitted to catch under the projections D and thus suspend the rail. A twopart stop-block G is used to embrace the lower web, 13, and its jaws are adapted to catch over the projections D on said lower web and when clamped together to be securely held thereon.

The advantages of this form of web for a trackrail are in part as follows:

The class of track-rails comprising horizontal flanges and a vertical web or webs have usually been made, as shown in Fig. 4, with a bead or T-head H on the edge of the web to connect the track attachments thereto. These beads or T-heads are hard to roll and require additional metal. Besides the hanger has to be made thick enough to pass up around the T-heads and have sufficient strength to support the rail, and this necessitates the taking up of lateral space by the hanger which should be left for the carrier-wheels in running along the flanges C. This invention overcomes these disadvantages.

The rail may be first rolled with the web entirely plain and straight, and then while the metal is still hot it may be passed through finishing-rolls and the edges easily crimped, as shown. The members of the hanger can be passed up by the edges of the web in the recesses, and thus occupy little, if any, more lateral space than that occupied by the projection D or which is occupied by the T-head H. In addition to this the jaws of the hanger and stop-block, being adapted to fit the alternate projections and recesses, cannot be slipped on the web, and therefore cannot get misplaced. When two or more sections of the rail are used to make a track, they may be joined together by splice-clamps in the ordinary way; but the jaws of the splice-clamps will be adapted to fit the alternate projections and recesses of the web of the rail on which it is placed, and the sections of rail cannot, therefore, be drawn apart.

The hanger F comprises two members I and J having jaws L and K. The body of the member J is passed through an opening 0 in the body of the member I, so that when their upper ends are secured together they will fulcrum on each other and their jaws K and L will have a tongs-like grip on the web A. The upper end of the member I is fitted with a hook M, and the upper end of the member J is adapted to stand between the point of said hook and its body, and thus close it while the parts are together and prevent the hanger from getting off the support to which it may be hooked.

A preferable way to secure the upper ends of the members I and J together is to form a hole in the upper end of the member J, also in the point of the hook II and in its body, all these holes being in alignment, and then drive the pin or bolt N into the holes, as shown in Fig. 1. The members of the hanger may, however, be held together by other means, such as a bolt P (shown in Fig. 4) passed laterally through them. The hanger may also be further modified by using two members, like R and S, which are placed face to face so as to embrace the web of the rail between their lower ends, the member R havin g on its upper end a hook T and the upper end of the member S being adapted to stand between the point of the hook and its body, so as to close it for the purpose already set forth.

The form of the hanger shown in Figs. 1 and 3 is especially adapted to the form of the rail-web in my invention, as the recesses E furnish room for the bodies of the members I and J to cross over to the side of the web opposite from their corresponding jaws without having to cut them away and weaken the hanger, or to have it extend out laterally in the path of the carrier-wheels.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A metallic track-rail consisting of horizontal wheel-supporting flanges and a vertical web having its edge crimped so as to form alternate projections and recesses for the connection of clamping attachments, substantially as described.

2. A metallic track-rail consisting of horizontal wheel-supporting flanges, and a vertical web having its edge crimped so as to form alternate projections and recesses, in combination with a clamping track-hanger adapted to embrace the web and suspend the rail, substantially as described.

3. A metallic track-rail consisting of hori zontal wheel-supporting flanges, an upper vertical web having its edge crimped so as to form alternating projections and recesses for the attachment of a track-hanger, and a lower vertical web having its edge crimped so as to form alternating projections and recesses for the attachment of a stopbloek substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with a metallic trackrail consisting of horizontal wheel-supportin g flanges, an upper and a lower vertical web, each of said vertical Webs having their edges crimped so as to form alternate projections and recesses, of a suspending clamp or hanger adapted to embrace and hold the upper web and a stop-block adapted to clamp upon the lower web, substantially as set forth.

5. Atrack-hanger comprising two members adapted to embrace the web of a track-rail between their lowerends, one of the members point and body of the hook, and also through I the upper end of the other member, substantially as described.

7. A track-hanger comprising two members, the body of the one being passed through the body of the other so as to fulcrum on each other and give the jaws a tongs-like grip on the web of the rail, and a pin or bolt to hold the upper ends of the members together, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a track-rail having horizontal flanges and a vertical web, the edge of which web is crimped so as to form alternating projections and recesses, as described, a track-hanger comprising two members ha\'- ing jaws to fit said web, the body of one memher being passed through the body of the other so as to fulcrum on each other, and give the jaws a tongs-like grip on the web of the rail, and means to hold the members together and in engagement with the rail, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\VILLIAM L0 UDEN.

W'itnesses:

FRANK II. IIIGBY, ARTHUR D. LoNo. 

